Joe Vitt's Monday Media Briefing

this is a discussion within the Saints Community Forum; Assess what Akiem Hicks did at New England?
“He plays with power and leverage and has a lot of athleticism. We know based on where he played a year ago and its nothing against this program, but he is raw. ...

“He plays with power and leverage and has a lot of athleticism. We know based on where he played a year ago and its nothing against this program, but he is raw. We still need to get him quality reps and looks in the preseason. But he really is where we thought he was going to be. He is big and athletic. He wants to be a good player and has some real good power.”

Is it tough for young players to get into that defensive tackle spot?

“No. I don’t think so. When you are big and you have courage and athleticism, I think the league has proven that you can take defensive tackles from small colleges and they can transition into good players.”

You think he could?

“I don’t have a crystal ball. We are still in the evaluation process. We’re going to go through this evaluation process and see where it leads us at the end of the preseason. We are happy with the way he played in the first game.”

Why did Darren Sproles sit out?

“He’ll probably miss this game. If this were a regular season game, he would play this weekend. Obviously we are going to be careful with him.”

Did he do something in the game?

“He (Darren Sproles) did something in the game. He’s got a knee.”

Tom Johnson has missed several practices, what is the injury with him?

“He’s got an ankle sprain. We’ll expect him to be back within ten days.”

I like this LOL Can you talk about Luke McCown, is he in a difficult situation?

“Listen, he doesn’t have to do this. He gets to do this. So it’s not a difficult situation. He is vying for a roster spot. He is learning a new system. He is trying to understand the tempo that which we operate; in and out of the huddle, with the personnel grouping and formation variations so it’s a little bit of a learning experience for him. It was his first preseason game. It was his first at bat so we are going to be patient and continue to feed him so stuff.”